Lifestyle: Moving Closer to God

I will continue with my Insights in Genesis blogs soon. For the moment, though, I am in such an intense state of observation and learning, I just wanted to take a moment to ramble about my thoughts. Over the past few years, it seems my journey has been quite a steep ascent with only minimal tiny plateaus with little rest.

The toll physically has been quite dramatic, too. All these years of excessive stress has resulted in adrenal fatigue and thyroid complications. This, of course, leads to more stress. I have been trying to manage it all with a strict diet, homeopathic therapy, essential oils, routine sleeping patterns and plenty of prayer and meditation on God’s word.

Finding the balance can be like trying to walk across a tightrope. One wrong move and the fall can be drastic. This, too, increases the stress levels.

For me, the most helpful of all my routines is prayer. When we move closer to God, He moves closer to us. This brings added wisdom and discernment. With all that I have been learning, I didn’t want to put it under a bushel.

I am the type of person that ruminates. This may be due the fact that I am idealistic. I am also analytical. I can analyze everything, right down to the best way to catch a spider on the ceiling. I also find myself constantly reading between the lines. This is an art requiring a lot of discernment.

It becomes necessary, too, to discern which people this talent annoys so as not to go on sharing this information with the naysayers (tongue-in-cheek).

A friend was recently visiting. Her outbound flight was delayed by four hours causing her to misconnect. Instead of arriving mid-morning, she arrived in the evening, causing her to miss a full day of sunbathing by the pool. I felt so bad for her and was sure she would be sulking.

Upon greeting her, I was most impressed. She made no complaints and was very bubbly. She spoke of the conversations she had on the plane with those seated next to her, with those riding in the shuttle from Belfast to Dublin as they were transported from one airport to the next. She spoke of many things. But she never mentioned being disappointed by her late arrival.

How could this be?

I am one who sulks. I would be so disappointed. I would be sitting in the shuttle looking out the window thinking of all of the time lost, of a beautiful opportunity missed to soak up the sun, of the wonderful lunch at a chiringuito I could have have, and of all of the “if-onlys”.

My make-up, my life experiences are so different than hers.

Is it possible to learn to let bad experiences to roll off me and not to absorb?

I think it is. And I am learning that it takes a lot of grit, determination, focus and concentration. I have to really “will” it. I have to look up to heaven and say, “Lord, don’t let this absorb! Don’t let this soak into me. Let it roll off. Let it roll off…”

Then I stand there, still looking up, and just shake my arms like I am shaking the dust from them. Do you know what, I actually feel lighter after doing this! Jesus says in Matthew 11 that, “His yoke is easy; His burden is light”. It really is! When I yoke up with Him, the load is so much lighter.

When I look at each event in my life, each happening, I am determined to get to the place where I realize it has all been pre-determined by God for my own good. He has allowed each thing to happen, and I can let the negative roll off me. Every mean deed done to me, every vicious person in my presence, every ill word spoken over me, they can all absorb or roll off.

With intent, I am taking every thought captive with the goal of growing my faith. I don’t want to be like Solomon, who, though wise, was too powerful to depend on God. When he grew older, he lost his need for God and stopped inquire of him. God ripped the kingdom from his hand and gave it to his servant!

I want to hang on to what I have and to be entrusted even more! I want to multiply to the highest denominator the blessings I have been given. I don’t want to waste a thing!

Written by Jori Sams

Jori Sams is a Christian author and freelance writer with nearly 2000 published pieces on the Internet, with over 1500 being published by Yahoo. Her books are published through Writeious Books. When she isn’t writing, you can usually find her following the sun…